where is the performance ?

[spellcaster]

Got my new build together

E8400
Ati 4850 graphics
4 gig of ocz memory

Last night when unzipping a big archive and also downloading stuff my vista new build would not respond to anything just getting the waiting circle as if it couldn't multi task. Even my amd 2600+ coped better albeit it was running xp. Should i be configuring the machine somehow to use both of its cores?

 

[Trill]

Are you on default BIOS settings?
If so, you should look into how to overclock.

Download THIS to see what is going on speed and setting wise.

 

[psychas]

did u isntaled all drivers ?

 

[ojrules]

have you installed vista since installing the new hardware?, or have you just brought over the old hard drives from your old machine, if so they need formatting, and vista needs reinstalling..

 

[spellcaster]

I have installed a clean version of vista 64 bit ultra on my ide hard disk as I have replaced everything else in my old pc except case and psu and my ide hdd.
with 4 gig ram on board i should not be waitign for a system to respond. Nor should it need overclocking to perform how it should as all the parts are brand new.

 

[Trill]

I have installed a clean version of vista 64 bit ultra on my ide hard disk as I have replaced everything else in my old pc except case and psu and my ide hdd.
with 4 gig ram on board i should not be waitign for a system to respond. Nor should it need overclocking to perform how it should as all the parts are brand new.

What speeds are you getting?
A screenshot of CPU-Z would help us to help you.

 

[spellcaster]

I am currently at work so will post these tonight, however does the cpu'z x86 work correctly on vista 64 bit

 

[RJC]

works fine

 

[asim18]

Last night when unzipping a big archive and also downloading stuff
...
Should i be configuring the machine somehow to use both of its cores?

"Unzipping" and "Downloading" stuff will not use much CPU at all (atleast in my experience), they will however completely batter the Hard Disk, so im 99% sure it was a hard disk bottleneck at that time.

 

[spellcaster]

Yes it may of been my hard drive but heres the spec below

Hello again here is the screen print from cpuz not sure which bit u needed to see

Number of processors 1
Number of cores 2 per processor
Number of threads 2 per processor
Name Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
Code Name Wolfdale
Specification Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz
Package Socket 775 LGA
Family/Model/Stepping 6.7.6
Extended Family/Model 6.17
Core Stepping C0
Technology 45 nm
Core Speed 1999.9 MHz
Multiplier x Bus speed 6.0 x 333.3 MHz
Rated Bus speed 1333.3 MHz
Stock frequency 3000 MHz
Instruction sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, EM64T
L1 Data cache (per processor) 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache (per processor) 2 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache (per processor) 6144 KBytes, 24-way set associative, 64-byte line size

Chipset & Memory

Northbridge Intel P45 rev. A2
Southbridge Intel 82801JR (ICH10R) rev. 00
Graphic Interface PCI-Express
PCI-E Link Width x16
PCI-E Max Link Width x16
Memory Type DDR3
Memory Size 4096 MBytes
Memory Frequency 400.0 MHz (5:6)
CAS# Latency (tCL) 6.0 clocks
RAS# to CAS# (tRCD) 6 clocks
RAS# Precharge (tRP) 6 clocks
Cycle Time (tRAS) 18 clocks
Command Rate (CR) 2T

System

System Manufacturer Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Name EP45-DS3
System S/N
Mainboard Vendor Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
Mainboard Model EP45-DS3
BIOS Vendor Award Software International, Inc.
BIOS Version F3
BIOS Date 05/28/2008

Memory SPD

Module 1 DDR2, PC2-6400 (400 MHz), 2048 MBytes, OCZ
Module 2 DDR2, PC2-6400 (400 MHz), 2048 MBytes, OCZ

Software

Windows Version Microsoft Windows Vista (6.0) Ultimate Edition Service Pack 1 (Build 6001)
DirectX Version 10.0

 

[BloomerzUK]

Your CPU is not running at the standard 3.0GHz. You need to turn some settings off in the BIOS, not sure which ones off the top of my head, but someone here will clarify.

 

[Vigoro]

That is just speedstep working and lowering the multiplier. You need to turn off Intel Speedstep and C1E i think it is in the bios for it not to be functioning

 

[asim18]

You need to turn some settings off

You need to turn off Intel Speedstep

You don't "need" to turn off anything, speedstep is a great feature IMO, and should be left on.

 

[Gilbretto]

You don't "need" to turn off anything, speedstep is a great feature IMO, and should be left on.

Indeed. Whats the point of having your cpu running at full pelt when its not needed?

Waste of electricity also! My electric bill is high enough as it is!!!

 

[MikeHunt79]

Last night when unzipping a big archive and also downloading stuff my vista...

You've mentioned the dreaded V. I'm sure it would be faster under XP.

 

[Mojo]

It has to be your IDE hard disk, All your other components are decent. compression of files takes up more memory than your RAM can hold, meaning your HD takes a heavy portion of the work, which bottlenecks the compression, and Vista. I'd suggest getting a large SATA HD and copying everything over

 

[spellcaster]

Thanks everyone for all the advise most appreciated

 

[Corasik]

Vista seems a little slower on file heavy tasks anyway, a good IDE hard disk isnt that slow, sure Sata have now surpassed them, but even so, the main limitation is the physical read/write operations of the disk, not the interface.

Downloading, while running a disk intensive task isnt a good plan, unless you have 2 disks, and can use the second disk as a download partition. What your doing is forcing your hard disk to hunt between the file write for download, file read for compression, and file write for the compressed output. CPU's can multitask, but if you want multitasking disk access you need multiple disks, either as separate drives, or as a raid 5/6 with a good caching disk controller (which will delay all the writes and give priority to reads)

XP would probably be a little faster in your compression + downloading scenario, but overall there shouldnt be much difference for most applications, Vista works pretty well.